Early filming has begun on the still-untitled Star Wars Episode VII, Disney chairman Alan Horn has confirmed — and for the first time, the movie has an estimated budget, give or take $25 million.

"These large tentpole kinds of movies on the expensive side are in the neighborhood of $175 [million] to $200 [million]," Horn told Bloomberg TV in response to a question about whether "Marvel kind of money" would be spent on Episode VII.

"We need to give the audience, essentially, a full meal in return for their affection and devotion and love for these properties," Horn added.

Even the lower side of that estimate would be significantly higher than the budget for George Lucas's last Star Wars movie. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, released in 2005, cost $115 million — almost exactly the same as the budgets for The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.

Budgets of blockbuster movies have skyrocketed since then, and none of the Lucas prequels are even in the top 50 most expensive movies of all time. The largest budget ever belongs to another Disney movie: 2007's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which cost an estimated $300 million to make.

The original 1977 Star Wars had an official budget of $8.5 million (or a mere $33 million in today's money), though Lucas ended up spending around $3 million more than that.

Relative to the current movie environment, though, what Horn is proposing is almost bargain basement Star Wars. Even a $200 million budget would only put it in the top 20 or so most expensive movies of all time, level pegging with Titanic, Spider Man 2 and Toy Story 3. The Avengers, Disney/Marvel's top grossing movie of all time, required an investment of $220 million in 2012.

One thing we know about the movie's visual effects budget: it won't be going entirely to the CGI department of Lucasfilm's Industrial Light and Magic. "We're going to be using all of the tools in the toolbox," said Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy last summer, confirming that the movies would use "model makers, real droids, artwork you can touch and feel" in combination with digital effects.

Kennedy also had some choice words for those other big budget blockbusters. "When you're making huge popular culture, it’s really hard to get right," she said. "If you don’t pay attention to the foundation of these stories, and spend the time you need to find unique stories, complicated stories, after a while the audience gets tired."

Will Episode VII have $200 million worth of story, then? We won't know until it's released on December 18, 2015. But Horn confirms that "second-unit shooting" is underway in Abu Dhabi, confirming fan rumors on that location, and that Lucasfilm will be ready to make some casting announcements "very soon."

Chris Taylor is the author ofHow Star Wars Conquered the Universe, the first complete history of the Star Wars franchise and its fandom. The book releases September 30 and is available for pre-order here.

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